A LOCKER ROOM TORN

Erik Manassy

11/15/2012

With anonymous Jets' players calling out quarterback Tim Tebow, when will the drama end?

Hello Mr. Anonymous Jets player. We haven't seen you since last season. I thought Rex Ryan banished you from the team's locker room but obvioulsy you have taken a new form and have set your sights on the same position, quarterback, but different player, Tebow instead of Sanchez.

I woke up this morning to an article that was written by Manish Mehta from the Daily News and boy did it ever stir up the hornets nest in the land of Green and White.

The prevailing thought in the organization is that Tebow is nothing more than a gimmick.

"He's terrible," a defensive starter told the Daily News.

The article is under attack because people are fed up with these stories from Mehta with no sources that will give their name to the most vicious comments. The only player to give his name to his quotes was guard Matt Slauson.

Left guard Matt Slauson, who has repeatedly supported Sanchez, made it clear that the fourth-year signal caller is the Jets' best quarterback."It's not even close," Slauson said. "All the other quarterbacks know it. I have all the confidence in Mark. We don't really have a choice."

When asked about the team's two other quarterbacks on the depth chart as possible alternatives — Tebow and Greg McElroy — Slauson clarified that the Jets really have only one other quarterback.

"We have Greg . . . and we have an athlete," Slauson said.

But could the Jets win with Tebow as the No. 1 quarterback?

"Do I have to answer that question?" a veteran starter said, shaking his head.

This is an organization that can't get out of it's own way on and again off the field. Feel any way you want about Tim Tebow, but you NEVER say these things to the press and especially UNDER the curtain of an anonymous source. It's just plain cowardly.

I asked former Jets Safety Victor Green his thoughts on what the players said and how they said it:

e_man @VictorGreen21 Victor, this is on Rex (the leader of the locker room), he should squash this. Is this evidence he has no control? 11/14/12 8:53 AM

I then asked former Jet Tory Woodbury who also played on the same team as Victor Green:

e_man "@T_Woodbury11: I never understood the Tebow signing anyway….." >> but… Do u rip him to the media? 11/14/12 7:59 AM

T_Woodbury11 @e_man personally nah you don't that's a punk move but I'm my own man I can speak for others 11/14/12 8:19 AM
Look what I wrote back in March of this year. It STILL APPLIES and I guess they didn't take my advice:

Not only will he (Tebow) be the lighting rod for this team this year, he'll take all the attention off of you, the anonymous player. Get used to it. I personally would take it as a blessing. The pressure is off of Tebow and clearly on Sanchez. The Jets' front office needs to proved to the world that this wasn't a mistake. I understand now why these anonymous players are annoyed. Their egos are too large for their britches.

One can say that this over-saturation of the name Tim Tebow is too much just a couple of days in, but it is only going to get worse. I am more annoyed with hearing about "anonymous" so called Jets players than I am about the polarizing coverage of Tim. Hey anonymous, you come across as a big baby who is throwing a tantrum and not getting your way. Stop it already.

I'm not telling you to like it. I'm simply saying keep it in house or keep it to yourself and let your playing do the talking for you. You now live in a circus. Complaining about it and talking to the press anonymously won't help anything. It will only invite more chaos in. Do your job, take care of your business and keep your business in-house. If you can follow that simple rule, it will go a long way to making the Jets look unified. If you cannot keep your mouth shut, I wish you would turn in your playbook and go to the arena league.